PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy set to face tough opposition in opening round of Indonesia Open 2023

Jakarta [Indonesia], June 12 : Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy, will be in action against tough opposition at the Indonesia Open 2023 badminton tournament, which will be held from June 13 to 18 in Jakarta.

The Indonesia Open 2023 is the third Badminton World Federation Super 1000 event of the season after the Malaysia Open and the All England Open Badminton Championship.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who is ranked currently 13th in the women's singles world rankings, will look to bounce back after suffering back-to-back first-round exits in the Singapore Open and the Thailand Open.

The former world champion shuttler was knocked out in the opening round for the fifth time this season at the Singapore meet.

The 27-year-old shuttler will open her campaign against Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. She has faced a hard time against the Indonasian as Sindhu lost her last two meetings against the world No. 9 Tunjung this season - the first in the final of the Madrid Spain Masters and then in the semis of the Malaysia Masters.

Even if she breaks her losing streak against Tunjung, PV Sindhu then will face a potential clash against Chinese Taipei's world No. 3 Tai Tzu Ying, who is the defending Indonesia Open women's singles champion, in the second round.

On the other hand, Saina Nehwal will go head to head against the world No. 7 Wang Zhi Yi of the People's Republic of China while Aakarshi Kashyap will take on world No.2 An Se Young of the Republic of Korea in the round of 32.

In the men's singles, world No. 8 HS Prannoy, who won the Malaysia Masters last month to open his BWF Tour titles account, will face Japan's world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto in his first-round match.

Commonwealth Games 2022 champion Lakshya Sen, who is currently 19th in the BWF world rankings, will play his campaign opener against world No. 10 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the round of 32. Meanwhile, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth will play Lu Guang Zu in the opener.

India's star men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ranked fifth in the BWF World rankings, will begin their campaign against the Indonesian duo of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, the reigning Asian Games champions, in the round of 32. The Indian doubles pair won the Swiss Open 2023 crown in March.

In the women's doubles event, the Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will face Japan's Rin Iwanaga Kie Nakanishi in their opening match.